Teen baby rate falling

TEENAGE pregnancies in England and Wales are at their lowest level since 1969.

Teenage pregnancies in England and Wales are at their lowest level since 1969 []

The under-18 conception rate in 2010 was 35.5 per 1,000 of 15 to 17-year-olds, compared with 38.3 in 2009 – a drop of 7.3 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics yesterday.

In 2010 there were 34,633 pregnancies among the under-18s in England and Wales, down on 38,259 in 2009. There were 6,674 pregnancies among girls aged under 16 in 2010, including 1,552 among 14-year-olds and 305 among under-14s – all down slightly on the previous year.

Teenage pregnancies in England and Wales are at their lowest level since 1969

The data also revealed most babies – 57.1 per cent – are now conceived outside marriage. In 2010, there were 519,163 such pregnancies, of which 30.9 per cent led to abortion.

Jacque Gerrard, of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “The fall in teenage pregnancies is testament to the hard work of specialist midwives and family nurse partnership teams.”